herodotus

purposing to make an expedition against these men; but he has endedhis life and did not succeed in taking vengeance upon them. I however,on behalf of him and also of the other Persians, will not cease untilI have conquered Athens and burnt it with fire; seeing that they didwrong unprovoked to me and to my father. First they went to Sardis,having come with Aristagoras the Milesian our slave, and they set fireto the sacred groves and the temples; and then secondly, what thingsthey did to us when we disembarked in their land, at the time whenDatis and Artaphrenes were commanders of our army, ye all know well,as I think.[7] (c) For these reasons[8] I have resolved to make anexpedition against them, and reckoning I find in the matter so manygood things as ye shall hear:--if we shall subdue these and theneighbours of these, who dwell in the land of Pelops the Phrygian, weshall cause the Persian land to have the same boundaries as the heavenof Zeus; since in truth upon no land will the sun look down whichborders ours, but I with your help shall make all the lands into oneland, having passed through the whole extent of Europe. For I aminformed that things are so, namely that there is no city of men norany race of human beings remaining, which will be able to come to acontest with us, when those whom I just now mentioned have beenremoved out of the way. Thus both those who have committed wrongagainst us will have the yoke of slavery, and also those who have notcommitted wrong. (d) And ye will please me best if ye do this:--whensoever I shall signify to you the time at which ye ought to come,ye must appear every one of you with zeal for the service; andwhosoever shall come with a force best equipped, to him I will givegifts such as are accounted in our land to be the most honourable.Thus must these things be done: but that I may not seem to you to befollowing my own counsel alone, I propose the matter for discussion,bidding any one of you who desires it, declare his opinion."Having thus spoken he ceased; 9, and after him Mardonios said:"Master, thou dost surpass not only all the Persians who were beforethee, but also those who shall come after, since thou didst not onlyattain in thy words to that which is best and truest as regards othermatters, but also thou wilt not permit the Ionians who dwell in Europeto make a mock of us, having no just right to do so: for a strangething it would be if, when we have subdued and kept as our servantsSacans, Indians, Ethiopians, Assyrians, and other nations many innumber and great, who have done no wrong to the Persians, because wedesired to add to our dominions, we should not take vengeance on theHellenes who committed wrong against us unprovoked. (a) Of what shouldwe be afraid?--what gathering of numbers, or what resources of money?for their manner of fight we know, and as for their resources, we knowthat they are feeble; and we have moreover subdued already their sons,those I mean who are settled in our land and are called Ionians,